Bonus Edition of Biz Buzz: Chopping Brauchli

By Chris Roush croush@email.unc.edu

WALL STREET JOURNAL ME RESIGNS

Marcus Brauchli, the managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, resigns his position in April after less than a year on the job and after just four months of ownership of the paper by News Corp.

In a Journal story, Brauchli says he resigned so that the new owners could pick the top editor of the paper. Robert Thomson, who was named publisher back in December, is now overseeing the newsroom while the paper searches for a replacement.

Brauchli will act as an advisor to News Corp. and provide guidance to senior management in a wide range of areas, from advising The Wall Street Journal to exploring the possibility of a business news channel for STAR-TV in Asia, according to a company statement.

Brauchli joined Dow Jones in January 1984 as a national copyreader with AP-Dow Jones and transferred to Hong Kong in September 1984 as a reporter for the newswire. In May 1987, he joined The Wall Street Journal Europe as Scandinavia correspondent, and in July 1988, moved to The Wall Street Journal's Tokyo bureau, covering economics and finance.

He returned to Hong Kong in October 1992 as the Journal's Asia correspondent, covering Southeast and South Asia. In May 1995, he was named China bureau chief for the Journal and The Asian Wall Street Journal, based in Shanghai and overseeing reporters in Hong Kong and Beijing.

He moved to New York as a news editor for the Journal in October 1999 and became national news editor in January 2000.

No replacement has been named.

NEW EDITOR IN NASHVILLE

Lance Williams becomes editor of the Nashville Business Journal, moving to Tennessee from Texas.

He’s the third top editor at the weekly in the past two years. Dave Raiford was named editor in March 2007, replacing Geert DeLombaerde, who left in December 2006. Raiford has left the company, according to an e-mail from Beth Hunt, manager of editorial operations for parent American City Business Journals.

Williams, who has been editor at the Austin Business Journal in Austin, Texas since 2006, had previously served as the paper’s managing editor for two years.

He joined American City Business Journals in 2002, working as a reporter and editor with the Cincinnati Business Courier.

Prior to joining ACBJ, Lance worked as a bureau chief for the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader and as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa.

LA TIMES BIZ EDITOR PROMOTED TO ME

Davan Maharaj, the business editor of the Los Angeles Times, has been promoted to managing editor of the paper.

The current editor of the paper is Russ Stanton, who is also a former business editor at the Times.

Maharaj, 45, has worked as a reporter for The Times in Orange County, Los Angeles and East Africa. His six-part series ‘Living on Pennies,’ in collaboration with Times photographer Francine Orr, won the 2005 Ernie Pyle Award for Human Interest Writing and inspired readers to send tens of thousands of dollars to aid people and agencies working in Africa.

Maharaj has been an assistant foreign editor and, in business, served as a deputy editor before assuming leadership of the department in 2007.

During Maharaj’s tenure, the business desk revamped its coverage to give greater emphasis to consumer issues. It also redesigned its Sunday section, devoting it to stories that can help readers with their personal finances.

BOSS WATCH

Fort Worth Star-Telegram managing editor for news Rex Seline, (left) a former president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, and night business editor Jim Frisinger are among the layoffs at the paper…Annette LaCross becomes the business editor at the Rockford Register Star in Illinois. She has been an assistant metro editor at the paper since March 2007…Dow Jones News Service AME Bob McGough takes over responsibility for the financial services reporting team, helping set and lead coverage of some of important stories amid the continuing credit crunch. McGough joined Dow Jones Newswires in 2006 from The Wall Street Journal, where he was deputy editor of health and science coverage. Also, Hammad Jawdat has been named editor of special projects for Dow Jones Newswires. He had been an ME on the global editing desk for the past decade…Greg Turner becomes deputy biz editor at The Boston Herald. Turner had most recently been biz editor at the Metrowest Daily News…Kara Wetzel joins Bloomberg News as an editor on the stocks team. She had been an AME for TheStreet.com. Also at TheStreet.com, ME for life and money content Brian Cronk leaves to become an AME for Dow Jones Newswires…Leo Valiquette, the editor of the Ottawa Business Journal, leaves the paper for a PR job. Jim Donnelly is the new editor at the Canadian paper.

UPPER EAST SIDE

Patrick Yoest joins Dow Jones Newswires as a GA reporter in Washington. Yoest had been a staff writer at Congressional Quarterly. And Meena Thiruvengadam leaves the San Antonio Express-News for a job at Dow Jones Newswires in Washington covering the Treasury and economic policy…Lauren LaCapra becomes a reporter at TheStreet.com, covering large banks. LaCapra previously worked at the Associated Press…Yuki Noguchi, (right) the technology editor of the Washington Post, becomes a business reporter at National Public Radio…Alicia Mundy joins The Wall Street Journal in Washington to cover the Food and Drug Administration. Mundy previously worked for the Seattle Times. Also at the Journal, Cynthia Crossen moves to the culture beat. Crossen had written a column on the history of business…Guy Kipp joins Dow Jones Newswires as a copy editor. He has been a sportswriter for the Newark Star-Ledger for the past 20 years…Bryant Ruiz Switzky joins the Washington Business Journal to cover banking, financial and professional services Switzky had been at the Minneapolis Business Journal… Shira Ovide, who has been covering the media industry for Dow Jones Newswires, will now cover newspapers for The Wall Street Journal…Tony Gnoffo, who had been the biz editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer before stepping down recently, leaves the paper to become managing editor of Knowledge@Wharton, the web site of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

WAY DOWN SOUTH

Chris Wilkinson becomes the new editor at Greater Wilmington Business in North Carolina. Wilkinson replaces Sarah Bon, who leaves the magazine…Biz editor Robyn Jackson leaves the Hattiesburg American newspaper in Mississippi.

MIDWEST MOVES

Christina Rogers joins The Detroit News to cover health care and technology. Rogers previously worked at The Roanoke Times in Virginia…Ryan Beene joins Crain's Detroit Business to cover automotive suppliers and steel. Beene replaces Brent Snavely, now an auto writer at Detroit Free Press…Rebecca Townsend joins Dow Jones Newswires’ Chicago bureau to cover commodities as a grains and livestock reporter. Townsend had been field editor for Indiana AgriNews. Also, Ian Berry joins the Chicago bureau to cover the Chicago Board of Trade. Berry had been at the Chattanooga Times Free Press as a GA reporter...James Pilcher rejoins the biz desk of the Cincinnati Enquirer after two years at Cincinnati Bell. Pilcher is coming back as a business projects reporter, focusing on enterprise stories of regional impact and the economy as well as technology, database reporting and digital project development.

WEST COAST WAVES

Erik Siemers joins the Portland Business Journal to cover manufacturing and utilities. He had been at the Albuquerque Tribune…Karen Fullenwider joins the PhoeniX Business Journal as projects editor. She had been ME at Arizona Capitol Times, a political weekly…Kristen Grind joins the Puget Sound Business Journal to cover residential real estate, banking and finance. She replaces Justin Matlick, now associate editor for environmental issues at Conservation Magazine…Justin Moresco joins the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal as a reporter. Moresco had been at Red Herring.

WEB WORK

Herb Greenberg, the Marketwatch columnist and longtime business columnist for several news outlets, leaves business journalism to start an independent research firm. He will continue to appear on CNBC.

GLOSSY GOINGS

Josh Quittner, the former editor of Business 2.0 who went to Fortune when the former folded last year, heads to Time magazine, where he now writes a column every other week and a daily blog…James Bandler, a Wall Street Journal reporter who last year won a Pulitzer Prize as part of the team that wrote about the backdating of stock options, leaves the paper for a job at Fortune, where he will be editor at large. Meanwhile, Fortune writer Bethany McLean plans to leave the magazine in June for a job at Vanity Fair… BusinessWeek senior writer Diane Brady (right) has been named senior editor and content chief. In her new role, Brady will be responsible for print and online content focusing on corporations, management and strategy coverage. She will assume her new responsibilities on June 1, when she returns from a book leave. Her book, “Holy Cross Fraternity,” is due out from Spiegel & Grau in Spring 2009. Also at BusinessWeek, Steve LeVine joins the Washington bureau. He had been with The Wall Street Journal.

ON THE AIR

Ted David (left) retires from CNBC after 20 years with the network. He recently had been the main voice for CNBC Radio and a co-anchor on the “Morning Call” show on TV…Rita Maloney, the business editor and anchor at WCCO radio in Minneapolis, leaves the station to become manager of marketing, communications and media relations at the Minnesota Grain Exchange.

AND THE WINNER IS…

Steve Pearlstein, a business and economics columnist for The Washington Post, wins a Pulitzer Prize in the commentary category. It’s the first time a Pulitzer has gone to a business columnist. Also, Investor’s Business Daily wins its first Pulitzer, which goes to editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez.

IN PASSING

Business reporter Austin C. Wehrwein, (left) who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for writing about the Canadian economy in the Milwaukee Sentinel, died in late April at the age of 92. The Pulitzer was given in the international reporting category… Jack Searles, the former business editor of the New York Post and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, dies in April at the age of 80.

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Posted May 6, 2008